Overview

To celebrate the completion of the first railroad to reach the Mississippi River, the owners of the Chicago & Roch Island invited a distinguished group of Eastern notables and investors to travel by rail to Rock Island, Illinois, and from there by steamboat to St. Anthony Falls in fledgling Minnesota Territory, all at the railroad's expense. This Grand Excursion occurred a week after President Franklin Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act revoking the Missouri Compromise (1820), which had prohibited slavery in Kansas and Nebraska. Historians agree that this act was the decisive event setting the nation on a collision course to the Civil War. A microcosm of antebellum society, the excusionists debated national policy and happily viewed the spectacular Upper Mississippi scenery, while their nation was careening headlong into disaster.

Full Product Details

Author:   Steven J. Keillor
Publisher:   Afton Historical Society Press,U.S.
Imprint:   Afton Historical Society Press,U.S.
Dimensions:   Width: 20.30cm , Height: 3.40cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   1.021kg
ISBN:  

9781890434632

ISBN 10:   1890434639
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   April 2004
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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